Jute/glass reinforced polyester resin laminated composite by compressive moulding : mechanical properties based on different stacking sequence and surface treatment.
UNIVERSITI TEKN IKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering
JUTE/GLASS REINFORCED POLYESTER RESIN LAMINATED
COMPOSITE BY COMPRESSIVE MOULDING: MECHANICAL
PROPERTIES BASED ON DIFFERENT STACKING SEQUENCE
AND SURFACE TREATMENT
Siti Fatimah bt Abait
Master of Manufacturing Engineering (Industrial Engineering)
2014
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
JUTE/GLASS REINFORCED POLYESTER RESIN LAMINATED
COMPOSITE BY COMPRESSIVE MOULDING: MECHANICAL
PROPERTIES BASED ON DIFFERENT STACKING SEQUENCE
AND SURFACE TREATMENT
Siti Fatimah ht Abait
A thesis submitted
in fulfiJJment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Manufacturing
Engineering (Industrial Engineering)
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering
UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA
2014
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
DECLARATION
I hereby, declared this report entitled ' Jute/Glass Reinforced Polyester Resin Laminated
Composite By Compressive Moulding: Mechanical Properties Based On Different Stacking
Sequence And Surface Treatment' is the results of my own research except as cited in the
references.
Signature
.. ............... '.) . .. .. .... ....... ... ..... ..
Author's name
: Siti Fatimah Bt Abait
Date
: 26th August 2014
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
DEDICATION
Dedicated to my beloved husband Jas Rimi Bin Jaapar, my son Widad Daiwish and daughter
Jasmin Hanna for giving me moral support, encouragement and strength. Also, I dedicated to my
mother, Salmah Bt Shuib who always pray for my success. Special thanks to Dr. Mohd Asyadi
'Azam Bin Mohd Abid for patiently supervised until completing the research. Not to forget, to
all colleagues and friends who always encouraged towards the end.
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
APPROVAL
I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion this thesis is sufficient in terms of
scope and quality for award Master of Manufacturing Engineering (Industrial Engineering).
Signature
Supervisor name:
Date
Dr. Mohd Asyadi 'Azam Bin Mohd Abid
d. ｾ＠
r ｾ＠ r1- C>l l.\.
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
ABSTRACT
Effect of stacking sequence, NaOH and silane treatment on tensile and flexural properties of
jute glass fibre polymer composites have been evaluated experimentally. Jute fibres were
subjected to 5% NaOH solution treatment for 24 hours and 1% of silane solution treatment at
2 hours. All laminates with a 5 total plies, by varying the number and sequence of glass and
jute fibre as to obtain 6 different stacking sequences. All jute and all glass fibre also had been
prepared for the comparison purpose. Laminate were fabricated by compressing method at
40°C for 30 minutes, followed by curing at room temperature for 24 hours. Specimen
preparation and testing was conducted as per ASTM standards. A test was conducted using an
Instron UTM machine at room temperature. The result indicated that the suitable laminating
hybrid configuration of the composite by placing fibre mat at different sequence and stack
could improve the mechanical properties. An overall comparison, the hybrid composite with 3
plies of glass fibre treated with NaOH was the optimum combination with a good balance
between properties and cost.
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
ABSTRAK
Kesan urutan menyusun, NaOH dan rawatan silane pada tegangan dan lenturan sifat-sifat
komposit polimer gentian kaca jut telah dinilai uji kaji. Gentian jut tertakluk kepada 5%
NaOH rawatan larutan selama 24 jam dan 1% daripada rawatan penyelesaian silane di 2
jam. Semua lamina dengan 5 jumlah lapisan, dengan mengubah bilangan dan urutan kaca
dan gentian jut untuk memperolehi 6 urutan tindanan berbeza. Semua jut dan semua gentian
kaca juga telah disediakan untuk tujuan perbandingan. Lamina telah direka oleh
memampatkan kaedah pada 40 ° C selama 30 minit, diikuti dengan menyembuhkan pada suhu
bilik selama 24 jam. Penyediaan spesimen dan ujian telah dijalankan sebagai satu piawaian
ASTM. Ujian telah dijalankan menggunakan mesin Instron UTM pada suhu bilik. Hasilnya
menunjukkan bahawa konfigurasi lamina komposit hibrid dengan meletakkan tikar serat
pada urutan yang berbeza boleh meningkatkan sifat-sifat mekanikal. Satu perbandingan
keseluruhan, komposit hibrid dengan 3 lapisan gentian kaca dirawat dengan NaOH adalah
kombinasi yang optimum dengan keseimbangan yang baik antara sifat dan kos.
ii
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to express my gratitiude to Allah S.W.T, for giving me the strength,
infinite grace, love and blessing tthroughout the entire time until the completion of this Master
Project Report. Peace be upon our prophet Muhammad S.A.W, whose has given light to
mankind.
In preparing this Master Project, I was in contact with many peoples, researchers, academia
and practitioners. They have contributed towards my understanding and thought. In particular,
I would like to express my most sincere and my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Mohd.
Asyadi 'Azam Bin Mohd Abid. 1 have been really fortunate and very thankful to have a kind,
tactful, patient and an understanding supervisor throughout this Master Project study.
My sincere appreciation also extends to all my colleagues and others who have provided
assistance at various locations. Their views and tips are useful indeed.
Last but not least, I would like to express my thanks as well as my apologies to my son, Widad
Darwish and Jasmin Hanna and especially to my husband, Jas Rimi, for his untiring
encouragement, trust, patience and understanding during the 2 years studies.
iii
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
TABLE OF CONTENT
PAGE
DECLARATION
DEDICATION
APPROVAL
ABSTRACT
ABSTRAK
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
ii
iii
iv
vi
vii
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION
I. I Background of study
I .2 Problem statement
1.3 Aim and Objective
1.4 Scope of study
1
l
3
4
4
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Natural Fiber
2.1.1 Hemp Fibre
2.1.2 Kenaf
2. I.3 Flax
2. I .4 Jute
2. I .5 Sisal
2.2 Synthetic Fiber
2.3 . 1 Glass Fibers
2.3.2 Carbon Fibers
2.3.3 Organic Fibers
2.3 Hybrid Composite
2.4 Matrix materials
2.4. I Polyester Resins
2.4.2 Vinyl Ester Resins
2.4.3 Epoxy Resins
2.4.4 Phenolic Resins
2.5 Processes
2.5. l Hand Lay Up
2.5.2 Vacuum Bagging Moulding
2.5 .3 Resin Transfer Moulding
2.5.4 Compression Moulding
iv
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
5
5
6
6
7
8
8
IO
I2
12
I3
15
I5
16
17
17
17
18
18
19
I9
I9
I9
2.6 Surface treatment
2.7 Mechanical Prope1ties of Synthetic/Natural Hybrid Composites
2.8 Application of natural based product composite based material
20
21
23
3. METHODOLOGY
3. l Experimental
3 .2 Selection Of Fibre
3.3 Selections of resin
3.4 Chemical treatment
3.4. l Silane Coupling Agent Treatment
3.4.2 Alkali Treatment
Preparation Of Hybrid Composites
3 .5
3.6
Specimen Preparations
3.6
Apparatus and testing
3. 7
Optical Microscope
31
4. RESULTS
4.0 Mechanical Properties Analysis
4.1 Tensile testing results
4.1. l Effect of stacking sequence
4.1.2 Effect of surface treatment
4.2 Modulus testing results
4.2. l Effect of stacking sequence
4.2.2 Effect of surface treatment
4.3 Flexural testing results
4.3. l Effect of stacking sequence
4.3.2 Effect of surface treatment
4.4 Morphology
31
31
32
32
33
34
35
35
37
37
37
38
5. DISCUSSION
42
6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMEND A TIO NS
45
REFERENCES
47
v
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
24
24
26
26
26
26
27
27
28
29
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE
TITLE
PAGE
l. l
Mechanical properties of jute and glass fibre
3
2.1
Tensile load comparison of different composite materials
23
3.1
Specification Of Specimen Preparation
28
4.1
Result of tensile and modulus test (NaOH treatment)
32
4.2
Result of tensile and modulus test (Silane treatment)
34
4.4
Flexural strength and modulus of laminate with NaOH treatment
39
4.5
Flexural strength and modulus of laminate with silane treatment
40
vi
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE
TITLE
PAGE
2.1
Hemp fibre (Source: http://hempf01you.com)
8
2.2
Mature jute fibre (Source: http://static3.depositphotos.com)
10
2.3
Woven jute fibre (Source: http://static3.depositphotos.com)
11
2.4
Mature sisal plants (Source: http://www.arc.agric.za)
12
2.5
Sisal fibre (Source: http://www.interplas.com)
12
2.6
Glass fibre (Source: http://www.bikeoff.org)
14
2.7
Carbon fibre (Source: http://ilovebrazilnews.com)
15
2.8
Aramid fibre (Source: http://turkish.alibaba.com)
16
3.1
Flow of methodology process
25
3.2
Hot press machine
28
3.3
Specimen for tensile test
29
3.4
Specimen for flexural test
29
3.5
Gotech Humidity Chamber
28
3.6
lnstron Universal Testing Machine (UTM)
31
4.1
Comparison of tensile strength with NaOH and silane treatment
34
4.2
Comparison of tensile modulus of laminate between NaOH
and silane treatment with different stacking sequence
vii
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
36
4.3
Comparison of flexural strength between NaOH and
silane treatment with different stacking sequence
4.4
38
OM image of GJGJG hybrid composite treated with NaOH
(i) Fibre pullout and resin starving (ii) Delamination
39
4.5
OM image of JJJJJ composite treated with NaOH
39
4.6
OM image of jute fibre glass hybrid composite treated
40
with silane
4.7
4.8
OM image of jute fibre glass hybrid composite treated
with silane
40
OM image of jute fibre composite with silane treatment
41
viii
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
CHAPTER!
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of study
Technological development together with consumer expectation, great pressure from
activist and preservation of natural resources, leading to the development and invention of
natural fibre. Natural fibre composites offer better mechanical properties, low density,
biodegradability, acceptable specific properties better thermal insulating properties, low
energy consumption during processing and low price. Natural fibre composites are well suited
for use in the worldwide automotive industry, which has come under strong pressure to
produce environmentally friendly cars. In Europe, natural fibres are gradually used in the
production of substrate materials for automotive interior parts such as door liners and headliners. Besides, applications in the automotive industry, the technology can also be used to
manufacture panelling and furniture components and in thicker beams that could be used in
outdoor railings and decking. Plant based natural fibres reinforcement include flax, hemp, jute,
sisal, kenaf, coir, kapok, banana, bagasse and many others. However the natural fibres has
certain disadvantages, such as compatibility with the hydrophobic polymer matrices, the
tendency to form aggregates during processing, and poor resistance to moisture absorption,
reduce significantly the mechanical properties of the natural fibres reinforced composite
materials (Mohanty et al. , 2005). The mechanical properties of natural fibre composites can
be improved by hybridizing them with glass fibre or natural fibre of superior mechanical
1
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
properties. Although the biodegradability of the composite is reduced, this can balance the
advantages gained by the increase in mechanical properties. Hybrid composite can achieve
more favourable balance between the advantages and disadvantages characteristic in any
composite material.
In the study, jute/glass fibres were combined in the same matrix to produce hybrid
composites. By following the stacking sequence of jute fibre polymer composites,
jute/glass/jute reinforced polymer composites, glass/jute/glass reinforced polymer composite
and fibreglass polymer composites were fabricated by using compression moulding technique.
The mechanical properties were studied by conducting tensile and flexural test using Universal
Testing Machine. The samples were prepared according to ASTM standard. The effect of
fibre-matrix bonding and breakage of the composite was analysed with the help of Optical
microscope (OM). Table I. I shows the mechanical properties of jute and glass fibre (Mishra
2013).
Table 1.1: Mechanical properties of jute and glass fibre (Source: Mishra 2013)
Properties
Density
(snn/cc)
Young's modulus
{MN/m2)
Moisture absorption
after 24 hrs
Jute
Glass
1.3
2.5
72
55.5
6.9
0.5
152-365
100-140
1.3
2.5
3400
442
28.8
42.7
(%)
Aspect ratio
Specific gravity
(gm/cc)
Tensile strength
(MN/m2)
Specific modulus
{GN/m2)
2
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1.2 Problem statement
The applications of composite materials are extensively used nowadays using fibres
with unsaturated polyester resin. However, the utilization of synthetic fibres for many years is
potential to affect the environment and depleting the petroleum resources. This type of fibre
also expensive compared to natural fibre. Nevertheless, the mechanical properties of natural
composites are much lower than the synthetic fibre composite (Muthuvel et al., 2013). The
natural fibre polymer composite alone will enhance the lack of properties by the single fibre
alone. The applications of natural fibre polymer composite are somehow limited because of
their moderate strength and high moisture. However, synthetic fibre alone, such as glass fibre
also has its sphere limitation.
Hybridization between glass/jute fibres will compensate the weakness of the sole fibre
as well as to confront with the environmental concerns such as incapability to recycle and biodegradable issues. Furthermore, mechanical properties of glass/jute fibres will be enhanced
since jute fibre will confront the weakness of glass fibre and vice versa. In addition, the usage
of natural fibres in composite applications, especially in Malaysia is relatively low. The costs
of natural fibre are cheaper and cost effective than using synthetic fibre. Even though, the
properties of natural fibre are lower than synthetic fibre, but the advantages of natural fibre are
low cost and biodegradability. Hence, this research was in attempted to improve the hybrid
configuration with different stacking sequence and surface treatment of mat using jute fibre as
a natural resource fibre as well as fibre glass in hybrid composite to discover its contribution
in improving the mechanical properties of composite materials via tensile and flexural test.
3
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
1.3 Aim and Objective
The aims of this research are:
i) To fabricate jute fibreglass hybrid composite by usmg compression moulding
technique with different stacking sequence and surface treatment.
ii) To characterize the mechanical and morphological properties.
1.4 Scope of study
In order to achieve the objectives this research is focusing on the following scopes:
For objective i:
i)
Fabricate jute glass, jute/glass/jute, glass/jute/glass and glass reinforced polymer
composites with different stacking sequences.
ii) Immersed jute fibre with silane coupling agent, 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane blended
into 50% of acetone and 50% of water, the percentage of silane is 1% for 2 hours.
iii) Then the jute was cleaned with acetone and dried under the sun for 8 hours.
iv) Jute was cleaned and soaked in 5% NaOH solution for 24 hours at room temperature.
Then, thoroughly washed jute with water tap. Finally, the treated jute fibre was placed
under the sun for drying purpose.
For objective ii:
i) Observed the surface morphology of the sample using Optical Microscopy (OM).
4
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
CHAPTER2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
Technological development connected with consumer demands and expectations
continues to increase demands on global resources, leading to major issues of availability of
materials and environmental sustainability. This century could be called cellulosic century
because more and more renewable plant resources for products are being discovered,
developed and consequently applied. Natural fibres have already recognized world widely as
reinforcing materials with a great environmental friendly and ecological concerns in producing
green products. The promising of properties of natural fibre-reinforced composites such as
reduction in density of products, acceptable specific strength, toughness, and stiffness in
comparison with synthetic fibre-reinforced composites, lower energy consumption of fibre
growing to finished composites, the safety factor in health, and low capital investment make
them accepted in engineering market such as automotive and construction industries.
Natural fibres such as jute, flax, hemp, bamboo, kenaf, coir, silk, have its own
drawback, but the combination with synthetic fibres
appear to be outstanding structural
materials that are feasible and abundant reinforcement for the replacement of expensive and
non-renewable synthetic fibre.
5
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2.1 Natural Fibre
Recently, researchers are focused more on natural fibre since the advantages of natural
glass fibre that can be renewed and they are abundant from nature. Besides that, the usage of
natural fibre also keeps the health of the workers in a good condition. Natural fibre offers good
thermal properties and excellent acoustic performance (Yongli et al., 2013). Researchers put a
lot of work with different approaches in increasing the mechanical properties and physical
properties of natural fibre composite, whereas the physical or chemical modification of the
matrix and fibre of natural fibre has been investigated (Yongli et al., 2013). Several natural
fibre composites reach the mechanical properties of glass-fibre composites, and they are
already applied, e.g. in the automobile and furniture industries.
2.1.1 Hemp
Hemp 1s one of the oldest and most useful economic plants. Hemp is a tall, fast
growing annual plant of the Cannabaceae family has various names such as marijuana, hash,
pot, weed, grass, dope, Indian hemp and all referring to the same plant, Cannabis sativa L.
Shahzad (2011) showed considerable improvement in the tensile properties of the hemp skinglass fibre composites compared to hemp composites. The hybridization of low strain to
failure fibre with a high strain to failure, fire results in an enhancing the failure strain of the
composites.
6
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
Figure 2.1: Hemp fibre (Source: http://hempforyou.com)
2.1.2 Kenaf
Hibiscus Cannabinus L. known as kenaf, a native plant of east-central Africa is a wild
plant that has been grown thousands of years for sources of foods and fibres . The growth of
the plant at height of 4-Sm within 4-5 months can produce products similar to the wood. Kenaf
is used as a cordage fibre in the manufacture of rope, twine carpet backing and burlap. Due to
its prope1ties of low density, non-abrasiveness during processing, high specific mechanical
properties and biodegradability kenaf becomes a substitute in for synthetic fibres and can be
found more in automotive industry producing automobile dashboard, carpet padding and
others. The combination of long kenaf woven-fibre in fabricating the hybrid composites
produces the maximum mechanical properties (Salleh et al., 2012). He suggested that long
kenaf/woven fibre hybrid composites have the potential to be used in many applications for
non-critical stress bearing structures to replace the glass fibre composites.
7
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2.1.3 Flax
Flax Linum Usitatissimum is one of the oldest fibre crop in this world and is grown in
temperate region and is always used in textile market, however, today flax have been widely
used in the composite area (Faruk et al., 2012). The effect of the hybrid ratio of the tensile
strength of flax -glass fibre reinforced hybrid composite showed the tensile strength increased
with the increasing of the relative volume content of glass fibres. If the volume fraction of flax
fibres in hybrid composite was high, the hybrid composite would fail when the tensile strain
reached the failure elongation of flax fibre reinforced polymer.
2.1.4 Jute
Jute is known as genus corchorus with 100 species grown in Bangladesh, India and
China is the cheapest natural fibre and currently the bast fibre with the highest production
volume (Faruk et al., 2012). Jute as a natural fibre is eco-friendly, low cost, versatile in textile
fields and has moderate mechanical properties, which replaced several synthetic fibres in
development of many composite materials. However, the hydrophilic nature of the jute fibre
affects the mechanical properties of the developed composites. Another important issue to
note that the tensile strength of jute fibre is extremely defect and span sensitive. Jute fibre
contains 82-85% of holocellulose of which 58-63% is a-cellulose. Jute fibre presents some
disadvantages such as high moisture sorption, poor dimensional stability, intrinsic polarity,
low thermal resistance, anisotropic fibre resistance, and variability. Mishra et al., (2013)
conducted corrosion test by soaking in brine solution and he predicted that the jute glass epoxy
composite underwent reduction for a small period of time initially and oxidation. Therefore,
from the results suggest that this type of composite is not suitable for use in the marine
environment. Apart from much lower cost and less energy required for the production of jute
8
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
(only 2% of that for glass) makes it attractive as a reinforcing fibre in composites. According
to Boopalan et al., (2013), the hybrid composite of jute/banana fibre reinforced epoxy, 50/50
by weight ratio gave a high result of tensile and flexural strength compared to other ratios. Jute
composites have gained huge mechanical properties over the matrix material and thus
indicated good fibre matrix adhesion (Nahar et al. , 2013). The SEM images of the surface
fracture showed jute fibre pull-out was quite higher and the bonding between jute and
polypropylene matrix was not so good (Jayabal et al., 2010).
Figure 2.2: Mature jute fibre (Source: http://static3.depositphotos.com)
9
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
Figure 2.3: Woven jute fibre (Source: http://static3.depositphotos.com)
2.1.5 Sisal
Sisal fibre is one of the most widely used natural fibres and is very easily cultivated.
Almost 4.5 million tonnes are produced in each year all over the world. Tanzania and Brazil
are the two most important country producers. Generally the sisal fibres are defined by their
source, age and cellulose content, giving it the strength and stiffness. The tensile properties of
the sisal fibre are not uniform along its length. The root or lower pai1 has low tensile strength
and modulus, but high fracture strain. The fibre becomes stronger and stiffer at mid-span and
the tips have moderate properties.
10
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
Figure 2.4: Mature sisal plants (Source: http://www.arc.agric.za)
Figure 2.5: Sisal fibre (Source: http://www.interplas.com)
11
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering
JUTE/GLASS REINFORCED POLYESTER RESIN LAMINATED
COMPOSITE BY COMPRESSIVE MOULDING: MECHANICAL
PROPERTIES BASED ON DIFFERENT STACKING SEQUENCE
AND SURFACE TREATMENT
Siti Fatimah bt Abait
Master of Manufacturing Engineering (Industrial Engineering)
2014
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
JUTE/GLASS REINFORCED POLYESTER RESIN LAMINATED
COMPOSITE BY COMPRESSIVE MOULDING: MECHANICAL
PROPERTIES BASED ON DIFFERENT STACKING SEQUENCE
AND SURFACE TREATMENT
Siti Fatimah ht Abait
A thesis submitted
in fulfiJJment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Manufacturing
Engineering (Industrial Engineering)
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering
UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA
2014
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
DECLARATION
I hereby, declared this report entitled ' Jute/Glass Reinforced Polyester Resin Laminated
Composite By Compressive Moulding: Mechanical Properties Based On Different Stacking
Sequence And Surface Treatment' is the results of my own research except as cited in the
references.
Signature
.. ............... '.) . .. .. .... ....... ... ..... ..
Author's name
: Siti Fatimah Bt Abait
Date
: 26th August 2014
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
DEDICATION
Dedicated to my beloved husband Jas Rimi Bin Jaapar, my son Widad Daiwish and daughter
Jasmin Hanna for giving me moral support, encouragement and strength. Also, I dedicated to my
mother, Salmah Bt Shuib who always pray for my success. Special thanks to Dr. Mohd Asyadi
'Azam Bin Mohd Abid for patiently supervised until completing the research. Not to forget, to
all colleagues and friends who always encouraged towards the end.
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
APPROVAL
I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion this thesis is sufficient in terms of
scope and quality for award Master of Manufacturing Engineering (Industrial Engineering).
Signature
Supervisor name:
Date
Dr. Mohd Asyadi 'Azam Bin Mohd Abid
d. ｾ＠
r ｾ＠ r1- C>l l.\.
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
ABSTRACT
Effect of stacking sequence, NaOH and silane treatment on tensile and flexural properties of
jute glass fibre polymer composites have been evaluated experimentally. Jute fibres were
subjected to 5% NaOH solution treatment for 24 hours and 1% of silane solution treatment at
2 hours. All laminates with a 5 total plies, by varying the number and sequence of glass and
jute fibre as to obtain 6 different stacking sequences. All jute and all glass fibre also had been
prepared for the comparison purpose. Laminate were fabricated by compressing method at
40°C for 30 minutes, followed by curing at room temperature for 24 hours. Specimen
preparation and testing was conducted as per ASTM standards. A test was conducted using an
Instron UTM machine at room temperature. The result indicated that the suitable laminating
hybrid configuration of the composite by placing fibre mat at different sequence and stack
could improve the mechanical properties. An overall comparison, the hybrid composite with 3
plies of glass fibre treated with NaOH was the optimum combination with a good balance
between properties and cost.
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
ABSTRAK
Kesan urutan menyusun, NaOH dan rawatan silane pada tegangan dan lenturan sifat-sifat
komposit polimer gentian kaca jut telah dinilai uji kaji. Gentian jut tertakluk kepada 5%
NaOH rawatan larutan selama 24 jam dan 1% daripada rawatan penyelesaian silane di 2
jam. Semua lamina dengan 5 jumlah lapisan, dengan mengubah bilangan dan urutan kaca
dan gentian jut untuk memperolehi 6 urutan tindanan berbeza. Semua jut dan semua gentian
kaca juga telah disediakan untuk tujuan perbandingan. Lamina telah direka oleh
memampatkan kaedah pada 40 ° C selama 30 minit, diikuti dengan menyembuhkan pada suhu
bilik selama 24 jam. Penyediaan spesimen dan ujian telah dijalankan sebagai satu piawaian
ASTM. Ujian telah dijalankan menggunakan mesin Instron UTM pada suhu bilik. Hasilnya
menunjukkan bahawa konfigurasi lamina komposit hibrid dengan meletakkan tikar serat
pada urutan yang berbeza boleh meningkatkan sifat-sifat mekanikal. Satu perbandingan
keseluruhan, komposit hibrid dengan 3 lapisan gentian kaca dirawat dengan NaOH adalah
kombinasi yang optimum dengan keseimbangan yang baik antara sifat dan kos.
ii
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to express my gratitiude to Allah S.W.T, for giving me the strength,
infinite grace, love and blessing tthroughout the entire time until the completion of this Master
Project Report. Peace be upon our prophet Muhammad S.A.W, whose has given light to
mankind.
In preparing this Master Project, I was in contact with many peoples, researchers, academia
and practitioners. They have contributed towards my understanding and thought. In particular,
I would like to express my most sincere and my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Mohd.
Asyadi 'Azam Bin Mohd Abid. 1 have been really fortunate and very thankful to have a kind,
tactful, patient and an understanding supervisor throughout this Master Project study.
My sincere appreciation also extends to all my colleagues and others who have provided
assistance at various locations. Their views and tips are useful indeed.
Last but not least, I would like to express my thanks as well as my apologies to my son, Widad
Darwish and Jasmin Hanna and especially to my husband, Jas Rimi, for his untiring
encouragement, trust, patience and understanding during the 2 years studies.
iii
© Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
TABLE OF CONTENT
PAGE
DECLARATION
DEDICATION
APPROVAL
ABSTRACT
ABSTRAK
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
ii
iii
iv
vi
vii
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION
I. I Background of study
I .2 Problem statement
1.3 Aim and Objective
1.4 Scope of study
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l
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4
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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Natural Fiber
2.1.1 Hemp Fibre
2.1.2 Kenaf
2. I.3 Flax
2. I .4 Jute
2. I .5 Sisal
2.2 Synthetic Fiber
2.3 . 1 Glass Fibers
2.3.2 Carbon Fibers
2.3.3 Organic Fibers
2.3 Hybrid Composite
2.4 Matrix materials
2.4. I Polyester Resins
2.4.2 Vinyl Ester Resins
2.4.3 Epoxy Resins
2.4.4 Phenolic Resins
2.5 Processes
2.5. l Hand Lay Up
2.5.2 Vacuum Bagging Moulding
2.5 .3 Resin Transfer Moulding
2.5.4 Compression Moulding
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IO
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I3
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2.6 Surface treatment
2.7 Mechanical Prope1ties of Synthetic/Natural Hybrid Composites
2.8 Application of natural based product composite based material
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3. METHODOLOGY
3. l Experimental
3 .2 Selection Of Fibre
3.3 Selections of resin
3.4 Chemical treatment
3.4. l Silane Coupling Agent Treatment
3.4.2 Alkali Treatment
Preparation Of Hybrid Composites
3 .5
3.6
Specimen Preparations
3.6
Apparatus and testing
3. 7
Optical Microscope
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4. RESULTS
4.0 Mechanical Properties Analysis
4.1 Tensile testing results
4.1. l Effect of stacking sequence
4.1.2 Effect of surface treatment
4.2 Modulus testing results
4.2. l Effect of stacking sequence
4.2.2 Effect of surface treatment
4.3 Flexural testing results
4.3. l Effect of stacking sequence
4.3.2 Effect of surface treatment
4.4 Morphology
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5. DISCUSSION
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6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMEND A TIO NS
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REFERENCES
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LIST OF TABLES
TABLE
TITLE
PAGE
l. l
Mechanical properties of jute and glass fibre
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2.1
Tensile load comparison of different composite materials
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3.1
Specification Of Specimen Preparation
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4.1
Result of tensile and modulus test (NaOH treatment)
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4.2
Result of tensile and modulus test (Silane treatment)
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4.4
Flexural strength and modulus of laminate with NaOH treatment
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4.5
Flexural strength and modulus of laminate with silane treatment
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LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE
TITLE
PAGE
2.1
Hemp fibre (Source: http://hempf01you.com)
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2.2
Mature jute fibre (Source: http://static3.depositphotos.com)
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2.3
Woven jute fibre (Source: http://static3.depositphotos.com)
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2.4
Mature sisal plants (Source: http://www.arc.agric.za)
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2.5
Sisal fibre (Source: http://www.interplas.com)
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2.6
Glass fibre (Source: http://www.bikeoff.org)
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2.7
Carbon fibre (Source: http://ilovebrazilnews.com)
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2.8
Aramid fibre (Source: http://turkish.alibaba.com)
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3.1
Flow of methodology process
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3.2
Hot press machine
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3.3
Specimen for tensile test
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3.4
Specimen for flexural test
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3.5
Gotech Humidity Chamber
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3.6
lnstron Universal Testing Machine (UTM)
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4.1
Comparison of tensile strength with NaOH and silane treatment
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4.2
Comparison of tensile modulus of laminate between NaOH
and silane treatment with different stacking sequence
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36
4.3
Comparison of flexural strength between NaOH and
silane treatment with different stacking sequence
4.4
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OM image of GJGJG hybrid composite treated with NaOH
(i) Fibre pullout and resin starving (ii) Delamination
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4.5
OM image of JJJJJ composite treated with NaOH
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4.6
OM image of jute fibre glass hybrid composite treated
40
with silane
4.7
4.8
OM image of jute fibre glass hybrid composite treated
with silane
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OM image of jute fibre composite with silane treatment
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CHAPTER!
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of study
Technological development together with consumer expectation, great pressure from
activist and preservation of natural resources, leading to the development and invention of
natural fibre. Natural fibre composites offer better mechanical properties, low density,
biodegradability, acceptable specific properties better thermal insulating properties, low
energy consumption during processing and low price. Natural fibre composites are well suited
for use in the worldwide automotive industry, which has come under strong pressure to
produce environmentally friendly cars. In Europe, natural fibres are gradually used in the
production of substrate materials for automotive interior parts such as door liners and headliners. Besides, applications in the automotive industry, the technology can also be used to
manufacture panelling and furniture components and in thicker beams that could be used in
outdoor railings and decking. Plant based natural fibres reinforcement include flax, hemp, jute,
sisal, kenaf, coir, kapok, banana, bagasse and many others. However the natural fibres has
certain disadvantages, such as compatibility with the hydrophobic polymer matrices, the
tendency to form aggregates during processing, and poor resistance to moisture absorption,
reduce significantly the mechanical properties of the natural fibres reinforced composite
materials (Mohanty et al. , 2005). The mechanical properties of natural fibre composites can
be improved by hybridizing them with glass fibre or natural fibre of superior mechanical
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properties. Although the biodegradability of the composite is reduced, this can balance the
advantages gained by the increase in mechanical properties. Hybrid composite can achieve
more favourable balance between the advantages and disadvantages characteristic in any
composite material.
In the study, jute/glass fibres were combined in the same matrix to produce hybrid
composites. By following the stacking sequence of jute fibre polymer composites,
jute/glass/jute reinforced polymer composites, glass/jute/glass reinforced polymer composite
and fibreglass polymer composites were fabricated by using compression moulding technique.
The mechanical properties were studied by conducting tensile and flexural test using Universal
Testing Machine. The samples were prepared according to ASTM standard. The effect of
fibre-matrix bonding and breakage of the composite was analysed with the help of Optical
microscope (OM). Table I. I shows the mechanical properties of jute and glass fibre (Mishra
2013).
Table 1.1: Mechanical properties of jute and glass fibre (Source: Mishra 2013)
Properties
Density
(snn/cc)
Young's modulus
{MN/m2)
Moisture absorption
after 24 hrs
Jute
Glass
1.3
2.5
72
55.5
6.9
0.5
152-365
100-140
1.3
2.5
3400
442
28.8
42.7
(%)
Aspect ratio
Specific gravity
(gm/cc)
Tensile strength
(MN/m2)
Specific modulus
{GN/m2)
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1.2 Problem statement
The applications of composite materials are extensively used nowadays using fibres
with unsaturated polyester resin. However, the utilization of synthetic fibres for many years is
potential to affect the environment and depleting the petroleum resources. This type of fibre
also expensive compared to natural fibre. Nevertheless, the mechanical properties of natural
composites are much lower than the synthetic fibre composite (Muthuvel et al., 2013). The
natural fibre polymer composite alone will enhance the lack of properties by the single fibre
alone. The applications of natural fibre polymer composite are somehow limited because of
their moderate strength and high moisture. However, synthetic fibre alone, such as glass fibre
also has its sphere limitation.
Hybridization between glass/jute fibres will compensate the weakness of the sole fibre
as well as to confront with the environmental concerns such as incapability to recycle and biodegradable issues. Furthermore, mechanical properties of glass/jute fibres will be enhanced
since jute fibre will confront the weakness of glass fibre and vice versa. In addition, the usage
of natural fibres in composite applications, especially in Malaysia is relatively low. The costs
of natural fibre are cheaper and cost effective than using synthetic fibre. Even though, the
properties of natural fibre are lower than synthetic fibre, but the advantages of natural fibre are
low cost and biodegradability. Hence, this research was in attempted to improve the hybrid
configuration with different stacking sequence and surface treatment of mat using jute fibre as
a natural resource fibre as well as fibre glass in hybrid composite to discover its contribution
in improving the mechanical properties of composite materials via tensile and flexural test.
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1.3 Aim and Objective
The aims of this research are:
i) To fabricate jute fibreglass hybrid composite by usmg compression moulding
technique with different stacking sequence and surface treatment.
ii) To characterize the mechanical and morphological properties.
1.4 Scope of study
In order to achieve the objectives this research is focusing on the following scopes:
For objective i:
i)
Fabricate jute glass, jute/glass/jute, glass/jute/glass and glass reinforced polymer
composites with different stacking sequences.
ii) Immersed jute fibre with silane coupling agent, 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane blended
into 50% of acetone and 50% of water, the percentage of silane is 1% for 2 hours.
iii) Then the jute was cleaned with acetone and dried under the sun for 8 hours.
iv) Jute was cleaned and soaked in 5% NaOH solution for 24 hours at room temperature.
Then, thoroughly washed jute with water tap. Finally, the treated jute fibre was placed
under the sun for drying purpose.
For objective ii:
i) Observed the surface morphology of the sample using Optical Microscopy (OM).
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CHAPTER2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
Technological development connected with consumer demands and expectations
continues to increase demands on global resources, leading to major issues of availability of
materials and environmental sustainability. This century could be called cellulosic century
because more and more renewable plant resources for products are being discovered,
developed and consequently applied. Natural fibres have already recognized world widely as
reinforcing materials with a great environmental friendly and ecological concerns in producing
green products. The promising of properties of natural fibre-reinforced composites such as
reduction in density of products, acceptable specific strength, toughness, and stiffness in
comparison with synthetic fibre-reinforced composites, lower energy consumption of fibre
growing to finished composites, the safety factor in health, and low capital investment make
them accepted in engineering market such as automotive and construction industries.
Natural fibres such as jute, flax, hemp, bamboo, kenaf, coir, silk, have its own
drawback, but the combination with synthetic fibres
appear to be outstanding structural
materials that are feasible and abundant reinforcement for the replacement of expensive and
non-renewable synthetic fibre.
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2.1 Natural Fibre
Recently, researchers are focused more on natural fibre since the advantages of natural
glass fibre that can be renewed and they are abundant from nature. Besides that, the usage of
natural fibre also keeps the health of the workers in a good condition. Natural fibre offers good
thermal properties and excellent acoustic performance (Yongli et al., 2013). Researchers put a
lot of work with different approaches in increasing the mechanical properties and physical
properties of natural fibre composite, whereas the physical or chemical modification of the
matrix and fibre of natural fibre has been investigated (Yongli et al., 2013). Several natural
fibre composites reach the mechanical properties of glass-fibre composites, and they are
already applied, e.g. in the automobile and furniture industries.
2.1.1 Hemp
Hemp 1s one of the oldest and most useful economic plants. Hemp is a tall, fast
growing annual plant of the Cannabaceae family has various names such as marijuana, hash,
pot, weed, grass, dope, Indian hemp and all referring to the same plant, Cannabis sativa L.
Shahzad (2011) showed considerable improvement in the tensile properties of the hemp skinglass fibre composites compared to hemp composites. The hybridization of low strain to
failure fibre with a high strain to failure, fire results in an enhancing the failure strain of the
composites.
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Figure 2.1: Hemp fibre (Source: http://hempforyou.com)
2.1.2 Kenaf
Hibiscus Cannabinus L. known as kenaf, a native plant of east-central Africa is a wild
plant that has been grown thousands of years for sources of foods and fibres . The growth of
the plant at height of 4-Sm within 4-5 months can produce products similar to the wood. Kenaf
is used as a cordage fibre in the manufacture of rope, twine carpet backing and burlap. Due to
its prope1ties of low density, non-abrasiveness during processing, high specific mechanical
properties and biodegradability kenaf becomes a substitute in for synthetic fibres and can be
found more in automotive industry producing automobile dashboard, carpet padding and
others. The combination of long kenaf woven-fibre in fabricating the hybrid composites
produces the maximum mechanical properties (Salleh et al., 2012). He suggested that long
kenaf/woven fibre hybrid composites have the potential to be used in many applications for
non-critical stress bearing structures to replace the glass fibre composites.
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2.1.3 Flax
Flax Linum Usitatissimum is one of the oldest fibre crop in this world and is grown in
temperate region and is always used in textile market, however, today flax have been widely
used in the composite area (Faruk et al., 2012). The effect of the hybrid ratio of the tensile
strength of flax -glass fibre reinforced hybrid composite showed the tensile strength increased
with the increasing of the relative volume content of glass fibres. If the volume fraction of flax
fibres in hybrid composite was high, the hybrid composite would fail when the tensile strain
reached the failure elongation of flax fibre reinforced polymer.
2.1.4 Jute
Jute is known as genus corchorus with 100 species grown in Bangladesh, India and
China is the cheapest natural fibre and currently the bast fibre with the highest production
volume (Faruk et al., 2012). Jute as a natural fibre is eco-friendly, low cost, versatile in textile
fields and has moderate mechanical properties, which replaced several synthetic fibres in
development of many composite materials. However, the hydrophilic nature of the jute fibre
affects the mechanical properties of the developed composites. Another important issue to
note that the tensile strength of jute fibre is extremely defect and span sensitive. Jute fibre
contains 82-85% of holocellulose of which 58-63% is a-cellulose. Jute fibre presents some
disadvantages such as high moisture sorption, poor dimensional stability, intrinsic polarity,
low thermal resistance, anisotropic fibre resistance, and variability. Mishra et al., (2013)
conducted corrosion test by soaking in brine solution and he predicted that the jute glass epoxy
composite underwent reduction for a small period of time initially and oxidation. Therefore,
from the results suggest that this type of composite is not suitable for use in the marine
environment. Apart from much lower cost and less energy required for the production of jute
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(only 2% of that for glass) makes it attractive as a reinforcing fibre in composites. According
to Boopalan et al., (2013), the hybrid composite of jute/banana fibre reinforced epoxy, 50/50
by weight ratio gave a high result of tensile and flexural strength compared to other ratios. Jute
composites have gained huge mechanical properties over the matrix material and thus
indicated good fibre matrix adhesion (Nahar et al. , 2013). The SEM images of the surface
fracture showed jute fibre pull-out was quite higher and the bonding between jute and
polypropylene matrix was not so good (Jayabal et al., 2010).
Figure 2.2: Mature jute fibre (Source: http://static3.depositphotos.com)
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Figure 2.3: Woven jute fibre (Source: http://static3.depositphotos.com)
2.1.5 Sisal
Sisal fibre is one of the most widely used natural fibres and is very easily cultivated.
Almost 4.5 million tonnes are produced in each year all over the world. Tanzania and Brazil
are the two most important country producers. Generally the sisal fibres are defined by their
source, age and cellulose content, giving it the strength and stiffness. The tensile properties of
the sisal fibre are not uniform along its length. The root or lower pai1 has low tensile strength
and modulus, but high fracture strain. The fibre becomes stronger and stiffer at mid-span and
the tips have moderate properties.
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Figure 2.4: Mature sisal plants (Source: http://www.arc.agric.za)
Figure 2.5: Sisal fibre (Source: http://www.interplas.com)
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